Mainly owing to its central position on the high roads in the south of England, Winchester was from early times a town of great importance. This Hampshire city is first ascribed to the Celtic Britons, who settled here in 392 B. c., having emigrated from the coasts of Armorica in Gaul. They remained in undisturbed possession till within a century prior to the Christian era, when they were expelled by the Belgæ, who advanced from their settlements on the southern coasts into the interior. Soon after it had become the capital of the Belgæ, the settlement passed into Roman occupation. The Cœr Gwent (White City) of the Britons became the Venta Belgarum of the Romans. The Roman word Venta eventually became transformed to "Winte," "Winte-ceaster," from which was derived Winchester. Under Cedric, about 520 A.D., it became the capital of the West Saxons, and of England in 827 by Egbert. He had obtained the sovereignty of all the other kingdoms of the Octarchy, and was crowned sole monarch in the Cathedral of Winchester. On this occasion the monarch published an edict commanding all his subjects throughout his dominions to be called English. The union of the kingdoms gave that importance to Winchester which it had never had previously, and the fact of being not only the capital of Wessex, but the metropolis of England, caused it to leap into great prominence. This state, however, suffered a severe check when London, in the reign of William the Conqueror, began to rival it, and was brought almost to the verge of ruin through the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII. However, at different periods, Winchester received much unwelcome discomfiture. It was seized by the Danes in 871; whilst in 1013 it was ravaged by Sweyn on his path of vengeance. In 1100 the body of William Rufus was solemnly interred in the Cathedral. During the parliamentary war the city was taken and retaken by Cromwell, and the castle dismantled. Here it was that Charles I. commissioned Wren to build a palace in 1683, which was only begun. Previous to this the plague of 1666 greatly reduced the number of inhabitants, and it was possibly to help the city recover itself that Charles thought of building a palace. [Illustration: WINCHESTER ST. CROSS] Though the great regal prosperity has long since departed, the many old houses and the great extent of the city still bear testimony to the once great importance of Winchester. Westminster